Great story! I could really picture this guys face when he saw your
sticker...:-)
When I took my vintage race Bugeye out for the first time, it was around
midnight one crisp January night in 1998. It was one of the very few nights
it had not rained in several weeks, and I couldn't stand waiting any longer
to drive it. I drove from my house to Golden Gate Park (San Francisco) and
the headed toward the Pacific Ocean near the Cliff House. I hadn't
encountered very many cars that late at night and when I hit the Great
Highway at the beach, there were only one set of headlights approaching
from a distance. Driving this very high profile car at midnight, with the
top down, a racing stripe and foot high numbers on the doors and hood, I
was paranoid about being seen by the police this late at night. I had a
stop sign but the upcoming car did not, so I patiently waited for him to
pass. You guessed it... a police car... and he was slowing down as he
approached, stopping to let me onto the road ahead of him. I assume he
wanted to see if I had plates on the car (I did), so not wanting to seem
suspicious, I pulled out, fully expecting to see the red lights come on
within five or ten seconds. Instead, he pulled around and passed me! I can
still feel that grin come over my face and thinking 'well that's a good
sign!'
Gerard
At 10:35 PM -0500 9/13/99, William Elliott wrote:
>Congrats on your success!
>
><<>So I took it for a spin (Uninspected. OOPS!)>>
>
>This reminds me of my first drive in my (now deceased) '66 MGB.
>
>I was in college in Raleigh, NC in 1984 and had just sold my ratty '77
>MGB and rusty '71 Midget to purchase my dream car... a 1966 BRG MGB from
>Belgium. Of course, it had not been driven since the year it was first
>imported... 1972. The seller had gone through the car and had gotten it
>somewhat running and driving, but had not gone any further. The carbs
>were in terrible shape, but it would run well enough to get it to an LBC
>shop.
>
>So I take off in this car to drive across town to the MG guy. I went by
>a city cop with radar in a speed trap, but I was driving VERY carefully.
>I did notice him look long and hard at the car. I then realized I had
>made a wrong turn and had to backtrack. I even took a different route
>to miss him, but in a couple of blocks I met him at an intersection.
>This time he stared even harder... and flipped on the lights before I
>even moved.
>
>Now I should mention that NC has different colors for each year of
>inspection on the sticker, so anyone can glance at the car and know if
>the inspection has expired. He walks up to the car and looks at the
>sticker. Looks at me. Back at the sticker... just shaking his head.
>
>Finally he says "No wonder I didn't recognize the color of the sticker.
>I was in fourth grade the last time this thing was inspected. I'll bet
>you have one helluva story for me." My first response "Well, I've been
>pretty busy...."
>
>Turns out he was a pretty nice guy and had owned a couple of LBC's.
>Once he found out I had just bought it and was taking it in to be
>inspected (and after I reminded him I had 10 days to do so)he let me go
>without any trouble.
>
>But the look on his face when he realized how far the car was out of
>inspection... priceless.
>
>Bill Elliott
>Lake Mills, WI
G G Gerard Chateauvieux
E A
R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
A A
R G Pixelsmith on Duty
D E
S http://www.gerardsgarage.com
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